For the majority of people who
acquired a Playstation console when it was launched back in 1995 the
original Wipeout offered their first taste of next generation gaming. In
an instant it wiped-out tedious talk of how many rings Sonic
could fit down his underpants, or how poor old Mario was recovering from
an operation on his downstairs plumbing.

Instead, Wipeout provided a realistic simulation of what hurtling
around a futuristic race track at incredible gut-wrenching speeds would
really feel like and firmly proclaimed that there was a new kid on the
block. No longer would gamers need to hide inside their point and click
anoraks. Playing games was once again cool!

To
those who thought that the learning curve was a little too steep the
follow-up was much preferred. While retaining all of the best bits,
Wipeout XL (2097) eased more towards pure arcade racing with errors and
misjudgments not being penalized so heavily.

Wipeout 3 was high-speed futuristic racing at it's most extreme.
Piloting an anti-gravity craft and then blasting your way to victory was
the ultimate thrill. Survive and become champion. Fail and watch as your
ship slowly disintegrated.

So what have we here? The name's kinda familiar and it kind of looks
the same... but hold on! It's time to enter a new Century with new
hardware and a new makeover of the legendary WipEout.

It
is now 2150AD and the Federation have unveiled the Wipeout F9000 league.
With a new generation of anti-gravity craft having been developed, the
races are far beyond the first generation competitions.

The crafts now have unprecedented levels of manoeuvrability - the
original craft had just 7 parameters that defined the crafts' handling -
they now have 48, and they are now able to race upside down, and at any
angle the player chooses.

There are more crafts, tracks, weapons, game modes...I could go on all
day. Just check out these stunning shots and see for yourself.